


Leverage

by FluffyBandit



Category: Leverage
Genre: Eliot / Eryn Relationship, F/M, Fanfiction, Leverage FanFic, Nathan / Sophie Relationship, Rules from the Transporter, leverage - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-29
Updated: 2017-11-12
Packaged: 2018-11-06 11:03:23
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11034876
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FluffyBandit/pseuds/FluffyBandit
Summary: Based off the television show, "Leverage," this takes place during the series, but with an additional female character.  Eryn Sinclaire is known as a "Jack," which is short for "jack-of-all-trades."  However, she specializes in get-away driving and automotive highjacking.  Though she prefers to work alone, she gets drawn into a team "job" that can always be walked away from.





	1. Prologue

**PROLOGUE**

Eryn looked down at her cellphone as it began to vibrate.  Quirking an eyebrow at the caller ID, she smiled politely to the men across the table.  “Excuse me for a moment, please,” she said as she stood and moved from the dining room towards the bar.  Sliding her finger across the screen, she put the phone to her ear.  “Thank you for calling,” Eryn said as she smiled politely.  “How may I be of service?”  “Is this Eryn Sin-,” the male voice on the phone started before being abruptly interrupted by Eryn.  “I’m sorry, sir.  Rule number two…  No names, please.”  “Right…  Right,” the man said.  “I have an availability at noon tomorrow for a meeting,” Eryn continued, “There is a bar on Fifth and Dubois called, ‘Callahan’s.’  Meet me there.  Wear a blue tie.”  “Callahan’s!?!  Isn’t that a cop’s bar!?!”  “Do you accept the appointment or not,” Eryn said calmly, but with a slight frown.  “Your answer is necessary in five…  four…  three…”  “Yes!  Yes!”  The man exclaimed.  “Alright.  I’ll see you there.”  Eryn smiled, “I look forward to it.  Thank you for calling.”  Hanging up the phone, Eryn turned back to the dining room and headed to the table where the men waited for her.  “I apologize for the interruption…  Now…  Where were we?”

 

Eryn entered Callahan’s at 11:55am and smiled to the bartender.  As she took a seat at the bar, the bartender smiled politely, “The usual, Miss?”  Eryn nodded and was presented with a frosted glass of ginger ale.  As she took a drink, she casually looked about the room.  Her eyes eventually settled on a paunchy man dressed in a black business suit wearing a bright blue tie.  Quirking her lips slightly, she noted he was obviously nervous and looking around as if trying to find someone.  Eryn put the money for her drink plus a tip on the bar and headed over to the table the man was sitting at.  “Good afternoon, Mr. Blue,” she said with a polite smile.  The man blinked at her surprised and stammered, “I’m not Mr. Blue…”  Sighing softly, Eryn’s smile flickered for a moment, “Rule number two…”  “Oh, right-right,” the man finished, “No names.”  

Taking a seat at the table, Eryn noted Mr. Blue pulled out a file folder.  As he flipped it open, she noted dossiers done on various people.  One of which was herself.  Frowning, she looked to him, “I don’t appreciate my privacy being invaded.”  As she began to stand, the man waved his hand frantically, “I’m sorry!  I’m sorry!  I am trying to find the best at what I need.”  Quirking an eyebrow, she looked to him, “Flattery doesn’t work.”  The man nodded, “I understand…  But, the job I have in mind…”  He glanced about the room as if to see if anyone was listening before he leaned towards her and whispered, “Will make you $300,000 richer.”  Eryn slowly sat back down, eyeing Mr. Blue warily.  “You have five minutes,” she said as she glanced at her watch.  Mr. Blue pulled out the dossiers from the file and slid them across the table to her.  “To put it bluntly, I’ve been robbed and I need a team to steal it back.  They’re schematics for the next line of airplanes that my rival company has taken from me.  I have a shareholder’s meeting coming up and, if I don’t have them, I’ll lose contracts not to mention probably my job.”  

Eryn glanced at the dossiers, “And what, exactly, do you need from me?”  The man motioned to the papers, “I have a Thief, Hacker, Hitter…  I need a Jack.”  Eryn looked up to him, “Team management is not among my skills.”  The man waved his hands again.  This time, however, to stave the admission, “I have that handled as well.  I just need to talk to him.”  Eryn looked over the papers again, her eyes widened on one in particular.  “Parker…  You have Parker as your Thief?”  The man nodded, “She’s the best.”  “She’s also nuttier than a bag full of peanuts,” Eryn replied.  “Let the Handler worry about that,” Mr. Blue said dismissively, “I just need you to fill in the gaps the Handler needs and possibly drive the getaway car.”  Eryn studied the dossiers again, this time mentally taking in statistical notes.  Standing, she slid the papers back across the table.  “Give the Handler my number when he is ready.”  With that, she turned and headed back to the bar, placed the half-filled glass on the counter, and left.

Looking around outside the bar, Eryn walked down the sidewalk.  She had three rules…  Three…  Rule One:  Don’t change the deal.  Rule Two:  No names.  And, finally, Rule Three:  Never open the package.  Rule Two had already been broken when he tried to use her name and when she looked at the dossiers.  This was not starting off on good terms.

 

A few days later, Eryn was jogging down a trail when her phone rang.  Stopping, she stretched her legs as she answered, “Yes?”  “Eryn?”  The male voice said before she could stop him.  Sighing, she rubbed her temple with her free hand as she switched legs and stretched again.  “Yes.”  “This is Nathan Fo-,” the man began.  “You are the Handler for the assignment?”  Eryn interrupted, becoming slightly irritated that Rule Two just kept being tossed out the window.  “Yeah, I guess I am,” Nathan said.  

“Then, I will let you set the meeting place and time,” Eryn said as she leaned against a nearby tree.  “That’s very generous of you,” Nathan said, but Eryn noted the sarcastic undertone.  “I am not used to working with a team,” she admitted.  “That’s okay.  Neither is the rest of the team,” he reassured.  

“I am interested,” Nathan continued, “as to why you took the job.  I know your history.  This is pocket change to what you usually bring in.”  Eryn shrugged, not really caring that Nathan couldn’t see it through the phone, “I just ended one transaction…  Was already getting bored…  And…  He sounded desperate.  I hate desperation.”  “So, you do have a soft heart behind your rules,” he said.  Eryn frowned, “If you knew of the rules, why did you introduce yourself to me?”  “Because,” Nathan confirmed, “Some rules are meant to be broken.”  

Nathan paused long enough to let that sink in before he continued, “Do you have a pen and paper?”  “No,” Eryn replied, “but I will remember.”  “Good memory skills?”  Asked Nathan.  “Something like that,” Eryn sighed, “Please tell me where to meet.”  Nathan gave her the building and directions.  Hanging up, Eryn looked at her phone before putting it in her sweatpants’ pocket.  Taking in a calming breath, she sighed, “This is a mistake…”  She turned and continued her jog down the trail.


	2. 1:1 - The Nigerian Job

Sitting on a bench in a park under a tree, Eryn tucks a wayward strand of her black cherry hair behind her ear.  She glances at her watch and scans the people walking past.  She is to meet Mr. Ford today as well as the rest of the team.  Sighing softly, she checks her watch again.  “I heard you prefer punctuality,” comes a familiar male voice behind her.  Slowly, Eryn stands to her 5’5” height and looks up at the brown haired man standing behind the bench.  Extending a hand, Nathan smiles politely, “Ms. Sinclair.”  Eryn sighs and shakes his hand.  “I also prefer anonymity,” she admits softly.  Nathan lets out a chuckle, “I’m afraid that’s going to be thrown out the window with this group.”

Her chocolate brown eyes dart down both ends of a walk path as she notes a tall man with shoulder-length chestnut brown hair casually strolling down one side and a slightly taller, young African-American man with short cut hair coming down the other.  Instinctually, her hand goes behind her and under her jacket to wrap around the ivory handle of her knife.  Nathan quirks an eyebrow at her, “You packing?”  She returns her attention to him as she tries to force herself to relax recognizing the two approaching from their dossiers.  “A knife…   I don’t bring guns to assessment meetings.”  

Her hand lets go of the handle and drops naturally to her side.  He shakes his head, “You won’t need guns at all.”  Smiling softly to Nathan as Hardison and Eliot came within earshot, Eryn replies, “I prefer to carry…  Think of it kind of like condoms.  I’d rather have one in case I need it then need it and not have it.”  “Nice  _ AvP _ reference!”  Alec says as he smiles.  Eryn turned her smile to Alec and gives him a fist bump.  Her eyes then flicker over to the other man and take in his build and piercing blue eyes.  Nodding in greeting to him as well, she looks back to Nathan, “Shall we get started?”

“Uh,” Alec starts, “Aren’t we missing someone?  Ya know…”  He makes a circular motion around his ear with a finger.  Nathan, Eliot, and Eryn all smile at Alec then look up at the tree where a young, blonde woman is hanging upside down.  Seeing Parker, Alec slows his finger and casually slides his hand behind his head as he smiles sheepishly.  

After a moment, Nathan motions to a nearby picnic table.  “Let’s have a seat and get started.”  Alec looks around, “In public?”  Nathan looks to Eryn who sighed.  In a loud voice, Eryn replies, “Yes!  In public!  Where else I can plan my bank heist?  In private!?!”  She raises her eyebrows and looks pointedly at Hardison as passing people look to the group and give them a wide berth.  “No one wants to know other people’s business…  Especially if it could make them an accessory.”  Parker drops from the tree, “Bank heist?  I thought we were robbing a company.”  Nathan again motions to the table, “We are.  Shall we have a seat.”

 

The next evening, Eryn pulls the black van up across the street from the Pierson Aviation building.  Three of her passengers, Eliot, Parker, and Hardison, get out and begin to stroll across the street.  She drives away and pulls behind an office building across the street and parks in the alley behind.  Glancing at the motion sensored lights that flicker on, she looks around and then nods to Nate that the coast is clear of cameras.  Getting out, she and Nate head to the back of the van and pull out a table and a small bag of equipment.  Locking the doors, Eryn activates the van’s security system.  Nate raises an eyebrow, and Eryn shrugs.  “It’s a good van,” she explains.

They walk up to a service entrance and Eryn puts down the equipment bag.  Reaching into her knee-high boots, she glances around the doorframe.  As she pulls out her lock pick set, she gets into the equipment bag and pulls out a tiny white box with wires and clamps at the end and a thin black magnet.  Putting the pick set in her mouth, she puts her foot on a nearby hand railing and uses Nate as balance as she gains leverage to look at the almost invisible wires attached to the top part of the door frame.  

Nate stands patiently still as Eryn slides her hand along the wires to where they disappear mid-way into the doorframe.  There, she slides the thin black magnet between the door and the doorframe and then pulls a knife out from its hidden sheath at her back.  Nate resists the urge to look up, not wanting to know what Eryn is up to, and focuses on keeping as still as possible while holding partially Eryn’s weight.  Gently peeling the covering of the wires on the doorframe, Eryn clamps her little white box to the wires.  She then hops down and smiles politely as she takes her picks out of her mouth.  “Thanks,” Eryn says as she dusts off the shoulder of Nate’s that she stood on.

Pulling out the necessary picks, it takes her mere seconds to open the door.  Putting back her picks and her knife, she picks up the bag and motions for Nate to enter with the fold-up table.  Eryn watches for surveillance cameras as they quietly move to the elevator and ride it up to a floor of unfinished offices.  In an office facing the Pierson building, Nate and Eryn set up the table and Eryn unpacks two laptops and hands Nate one of the two earpieces that Hardison had given to her earlier.  She puts one in her ear and gently adjusts it to fit comfortably.

She then pulls out a small projection camera and points it to a nearby wall.  After a few moments on the keyboard, blueprints of the building across the way appear.  Nate nods to her with a small smile before turning his attention to the blueprints.  Eryn notes his face relax as if he was remembering something unrelated.  Checking the main laptop she is on, Eryn nods to Nate, “Ten minutes and counting.”

Putting the earpiece in, Nate clears his throat, “Okay.  Clear comms…  No surprises now.  Eryn scoffs quietly and mutters, “Good luck with that.”  Nate turns and looks to her as he points at his ear.  Embarrassed, Eryn looks back to the laptops, “Whoops…”  

She hears Hardison as if he is in the same room rather than across the street on the roof, “I’ve been doing this since high school, bro.  I am Captain Discipline…  Okay, so these are a bone-conduction earpiece mic.  Works off the vibrations of your jaw.”  Hardison then lowers his voice, “You can hear everything.”  Eliot’s voice comes over the comms, “You’re not as useless as you look.”  Hardison scoffs, “I don’t even know what you do.”

Parker’s voice comes over the comms next, “Can I have one?”  Eryn can hear the smile through Hardison’s voice, “You can have the whole box.”  Eliot mutters, “What are you going to do when she finds out you live with your mom?”  “Age of the Geek, baby,” Hardison replies proudly, “We run the world.”  “Yeah…  You keep telling yourself that,” Eliot retorts.

Eryn watches Nate pull out binoculars and look out the window to across the street.  She hears metal clinking and the sliding of cloth as Parker’s voice comes over the comms, “Last time I used this rig..  Paris…  2003.”  Eliot’s voice interrupts, “Is this thing safe?”  Nate lowers the binoculars as he looks somewhat stunned, “You talking about the Caravaggio!?!  You stole that?”  Hardison’s voice came over the comms, “Yeah, it’s completely safe.  It’s just…  You know…  You might experience nausea…  Weakness in your right side…  Stroke…  Strokiness…”  Eryn chuckles as Eliot growls, “You’re precisely why I work alone.”

Nate looks through the binoculars again as he speaks, “Guys, listen up…  We’re going to go on my count.  Not a second sooner.  Parker, no freelancing.”  “Hey.  Relax.  We know what we’re doing,” Eliot responds.  Nate continues, “And on the count of five…”  “Oh…  He doesn’t want to be our pal,” Hardison says sarcastically.  Nate ignores the jibe and continues, “We’re on the count…  Five…  Four…  Three…”

Eliot’s voice interrupts the countdown, “She’s gone.”  Eryn almost pulls out the earpiece as Parker shrieks, “Yeeeeeehaaaaa!”  Nate sighs, “Son of a…”  “That’s twenty pounds of crazy in a five pound bag,” Eliot continues.  After a few moments, Parker’s voice is heard over the comms, “Vibration detectors are on.”  “No cutting,” Nate advises, “Use the binary.”  Silence hits the comms as the team begins their individual tasks.

After a few moments, the monitors on the laptops flash and Eryn informs Nate, “We’re in.”  She begins to hack into the mainframe of the security system as she sees Parker’s progress with the electrical systems on the other monitor.  Eliot scoffs, “You know, Parker…  Anytime you wanna-”  “Whoa!”  Hardison exclaims as the sound of gears of an elevator can be heard.

Eryn glances at Nate, “Boys are on their way.”  Nate looks to her, “What are you getting with security?  You see security?”  “Boys!?!”  Hardison retorts.  “Oh, suck it up and do your part,” Eryn replies.  Eryn looks at the primary monitor where she notes men standing around the desk watching panels and monitors which show unmoving elevators, “They don’t see a thing.”

After a few moments, Parker informs Nate, “Doors open.”  Nate nods to himself and moves to stand behind Eryn to watch the monitors, “Alright, guys.  Show time.  Here we go.”  Eryn assumes Eliot was speaking to Hardison when he says, “Here.”  “Got it,” Hardison answers.  Nate asks Eryn, “You got chatter on their frequencies?”  Eryn glances at the main monitor, “No…  Why?”  Nate types on the secondary laptop and pulls up records as he replies, “There’s eight listed on the duty roster.  There’s only four at the guard post.”  Swearing softly, Eryn flips through the security camera images, “I can’t even tell how many guys are in the room.  How can you tell who’s who?”  “Haircuts, Eryn.  Count the haircuts.”  Parker murmurs over the comms, “I would have missed that.”  “What?”  Nate asked.  “Nothing,” Parker quickly responds.

Eliot interrupts, “Problem?”  “Uh,” Nate replies, “Maybe.  Run the cameras.”  Hardison is overheard talking to himself, “Ten digit password.  I salute you, sir.”  Eryn’s eyes widen as she flips to an image of the four missing guards walking down a hallway, “Got’em.”  She frowns, “They’re doing their walk-through an hour early.  Why the f-...”  “Playoffs,” Nate explained.  Eryn flips the image back to the security room and verifies that one of the monitors shows a baseball game.  Nate nods as he looks over Eryn’s shoulder at the image, “Yeah, game 5 of the playoffs.  They’re doing their rounds an hour early so they can watch the playoffs.”  Eryn flips the image back to the patrolling guards, “Uh…  They’re at the stairwell.”  Nate pulls a tube out of the equipment bag and removes blueprints that he unrolls onto the spare part of the table.

Eryn flips back to the security room where the guards continue to watch the playoffs and monitor the security feeds.  Nate puts a hand on her shoulder as if to calm her as he talks to the team, “Okay, guys.  Here’s what we’re gonna do.  We gotta squelch’em.”  Eryn types rapidly on the keyboard that sends a high pitched sound over the guards’ comm frequencies.  She notes that, in the security room, the guards wince as one turns down the speaker.

Nate continues, “Eliot, what I want you to do is clear the zone.  Use Hardison as bait.”  Hardison’s panicky voice is heard as Eryn watches Eliot disappear off camera, “Bait!?!  What!?!  Wait!  Hold up!  Wait a minute!  I  _ know _ you ain’t talkin’ about me!  I ain’t nobody’s bait.”  He then murmurs, “C’mon, baby…  Work for me, baby…  C’mon, baby!”  Eryn frowns as she watches the monitors, “Hardison, they’re almost there.”  She watches Hardison look to his device, “C’mon, baby.  C’mon.  Just come on, man!...  Forget it!”  As she watches Hardison turn to leave, guards are already upon him.  They raise their weapons and “Hold it!” is heard over the comms.  Just as Hardison begins to drop his equipment bag, Eliot appears walking out from behind the guards.  By the time Hardison’s bag has hit the ground, Eryn stares impressed as Eliot has immobilized all the guards and is the only one standing emptying the last of their guns in his hand.  Smoothly, Eliot smiles, “ _ That _ is what I do.”  Eryn’s eyes go wide as she whispers, “I think I’m in lust…”  Nate pats her on the shoulder and she realizes she said it aloud.

Eryn watches as Hardison looks impressed.  Behind him, the door opens and he and Eliot enter the server room and off camera view.  “Guys…  Guys…  You gotta talk to me, okay?”  Says Nate as he watches the building through the binoculars.  “‘Cause I don’t know what’s going on.”  Hardison replies, “It’s all good.  I’m stripping the drives right now…  Come on, baby…  Got all the designs.  Got all the backups…  I’m leaving this cupboard bare.”  Nate smiles slightly as he lowers the binoculars, “Drop the spike.”  Eliot is heard asking, “You giving them a virus?”  Hardison chuckles, “Dude, I gave them more than one virus.”  Watching the monitors, Eryn frowns at the flashing red signs, “Problem.  Those guards you ganked?  They reset all the alarms on the roof and all the floors above you.  You guys can’t go up.”  “Every man for himself then,” Eliot responds.  Hardison retorts, “Go head!   _ I _ am the one with the merchandise.”  Parker’s voice interrupts, “Yeah, well, I’m the one with an exit!”  Nate sighs and looks to Eryn as she shrugs.  Nate calmly replies, “And I’m the one with the plan.  Now, I know you children don’t play well with others.”  He ignores Eryn as she sticks her tongue out at him.  “But,” he continues, “I need you to hold it together for exactly seven more minutes.  Now, get to the elevator and head down.  We’re going to the burn scam.”

Eryn begins to quickly pack up their equipment and she and Nate head down to the van.  “Going with Plan B,” Hardison agrees.  “Technically, that would be Plan G,” Eryn replies.  As they load the van, they hear Hardison over the comms, “How many Plans do we have?  Is there like a Plan M?”  Nate grins at Eryn as she closes the van door then hops into the driver side as Nate climbs into the passenger seat.  “Yeah,” Nate replies, “Hardison dies in Plan M.”  She navigates the van back towards the building.  Eliot can be heard murmuring, “I like Plan M.”

As she pulls up to the curb, Eryn watches as Hardison and Eliot are both in suits and Parker is trussed up like a burned victim, complete with hobbled leg, leave the building slowly.  They  head towards the van and Nate opens up the side door as they begin to move faster away from the building.  Once they’re in, Eryn drives the van casually away and to a park.

 

Back at the park, the nearby streetlight light upon the group as they all watch Hardison work on his laptop.  Nate restlessly moves about, “C’mon…  C’mon…  It’s only taking all night!  C’mon!”  Hardison shrugs as he glances to Nate, “I got a couple of Wi-Fi networks with some crappy bandwidth.”  After a few more keystrokes, Hardison smiles broadly, “There you go.  The designs are sent.”  Clapping his hands together, Nate smiled, “Alright…  Alright.  The money will be in all your accounts later today.”  Hardison packs up his laptop, “Anyone else noticed how hard we rocked last night?”  Eryn shakes her head, “I work alone…  As do the rest of you…  Don’t break the rule.”  Parker shrugs, “I already forgot your names.”  Pouting, Hardison slings his bag over a shoulder, “Still…  It was kinda cool being on the same side.”  Nate quickly interjects, “No!  We are  _ not _ on the same side.  I am not a thief.”  Grinning, Parker chimes in, “You are now.  C’mon, Nathan.  Tell the truth.  Didn’t you have a little bit of fun playing the Black King instead of the White Knight?  Just this once?”  Nate ignores her as he walked away.  Eryn, Hardison, Parker, and Eliot all walk away as well, in separate directions.

 

Eryn frowns as she looks at her phone.  The text message she receives shows that not only had the money  _ not _ hit her offshore account, but that Mr. Blue wants to meet at a warehouse.  After waking up and putting on clothes, she secures holsters to hide her weaponry under her jacket and heads to her van.  Pulling up early to the meeting place, she glances around before pulling out her P-320 Sig Sauer out of the glove box and secures it in its holster at her back.  As she quietly enters the building, she moves towards where she hears voices that sound like Hardison and Eliot.  Staying behind a stack of pallets, she notes that Hardison had his own gun pointed at Eliot.  However, the way he was holding it tells Eryn that he is not a gun person, nor probably ever fired one.  Hearing faint footsteps behind her, she whispers softly, “I’m wondering how long he’ll keep poking…  Before Eliot snaps his neck.”  Nate continues around the corner as he sighs, “Let’s not find out.”

Hardison continues to wave the gun at Eliot, “You mind telling me what happened to the designs!?!”  Raising his hands, Eliot snarls back, “What makes you think  _ I  _ know what happened, stupid.”  “Look,” Hardison attempts to puff up, “Forget you, man!  You did it when we were coming down from the elevator.”  “Oh, yeah!”  Eliot retorts, “That makes sense doesn’t it?  You had the files every second!”  “Hold up, Cujo,” Hardison reiterates waving the gun at Eliot, “I did my part.  I transferred the files.”  “You better get that gun outta my face,” Eliot snarls.  “What you going to do?”  Hardison says as he puffs up.  Eliot’s snarl turns into a growl that made Eryn’s insides tingle slightly, “...  Or else I’m gonna feed it to you.”  

“Hey!”  Nate shouts.  Both men turn, and Hardison nervously points the gun at Nate.  Eliot looks Nate over, “Did you do it?  You’re the only one that’s ever played both sides.”  “Yeah,” Nate said as he shakes his head, “You seem pretty relaxed for a guy with a gun pointed at him.”  Glancing at Hardison, Eliot shrugs nonchalantly, “Safety’s on.”  Hardison scoffs, “Like I’m gonna fall for that.”  As Nate approaches with his hands raised, he motions to the gun, “No-no.  Actually, he’s right.  The safety is on.”  Hardison turns the gun to glance at the safety just in time for Nate to snatch it from his hands.  Flustered, Hardison looks between the two of them.  Nate looks to Eliot, “You armed?”  Shaking his head, Eliot admits, “I don’t like guns.”  

From her hiding spot, Eryn murmurs, “Too bad.  I do.”  Then, her eyes close and she swears to herself as she feels the muzzle of a gun pushed between her shoulders.  Parker says from behind her, “Preach it, sister.”  Raising her hands, she dangles her gun from her finger and lets Parker guide her out from hiding and towards the guys.  Nate turns and points the gun at Parker, who keeps Eryn between them.  When Eryn reaches them, she lowers her hands and secures her gun back into its holster slowly, keeping a wary eye on Parker.  She then moves to stand by Eliot.  

Parker pouts, “My money’s not in my account.”  Parker moves around Hardison, and points her gun upwards as Nate lowers his.  “That makes me cry inside…  In my special…  Angry place.”  Eryn blinks confused at the analogy.  Nate tentatively reaches out and lowers Parker’s gun, he asks the group, “Now, did you all come here to get paid?”  It is Hardison’s turn to scoff, “Hell, no.  Transfer of funds, man.  Global economy.”  Eliot continues, “It was supposed to be a walk away.  I’m never supposed to see any of you again.”  He smiles slightly as he glances to Eryn and murmurs softly, “Well, most of you.”  Eryn’s eyes widen and she keeps her focus on Nate.  

Nate thinks for a moment then begins to chuckle, “Then…  The only reason you guys are here is because you didn’t get paid…  And you’re pissed off…”  His chuckle erupts into laughter which causes the group to look to each other confused, “As a matter of fact, the only way to get us all in the same place at the same time is to tell us that we’re not…”  He sobers up as he continues, “Getting…  Paid…”  The group looks to each other for a brief moment before making a mad run towards a set of loading doors.  Eryn and Nate, getting there first, raise the doors for the others.  Hardison trips and is picked up by Eliot who drags him out the doors.  Eryn waves them to hurry, “C’mon!  C’mon!  Hustle!  Let’s go!  Go!”  As the last make it through, Eryn and Nate glance towards the sound of a large explosion and note the wave of fire and heat heading their direction.  Both roll under the doors, letting it close behind them and begin to run again after the group.  “Keep going!”  Nate yells before the building behind them explodes, throwing them all to the ground.  Eryn’s head bounces on the cement, causing her to see stars before she loses control over consciousness in time to hear sirens in the distance.

 

Darkness lightens and Eryn jerks startled as she turns to sees Parker’s goofy grin, resting her head on folded arms on a side railing of a hospital bed.  The jerking motion, however, holds short by a pair of handcuffs that link her to the same railing Parker is resting on.  Rubbing her throbbing head with her free hand, she looks to Parker with half-closed eyes, “Where are the guys?”  Parker jerks her head towards the wall which connects them to another room.  Through the vent shaft above, she can hear Nate waking up as well.

“It’s about time,” Parker says as she hears Nate talking.  Eryn tries to hear in, but they are talking too soft to hear from the vent.  “What?”  Nate responds.  As Parker paces, Eryn notes that she is playing with her handcuffs, not even attached to anything.  “Cops and firemen got there just as we were waking up,” Parker explains.  

Nate speaks loud enough so that the ladies can hear from their room, “Where are we?”  Looking around Eryn can barely see out the window from her bed, “About thirteen floors up.”  Eryn motions for Parker to give her whatever she used to get out of the handcuffs, but is ignored.  “County hospital,” Hardison continues from the other room, “Local cops.  They responded to the explosion.”  “Have we been processed,” Nate asks.  Eryn glances down at her free hand and sees ink covering her fingertips.  “Shit,” she mutters.  She overhears Eliot explain, “They faxed our prints to the State Police.”  “Double shit,” Eryn says as she begins to examine the handcuffs at the railing.  

“Yo!”  Hardison interrupts, “If the Staties run us, man.  We’re screwed.”  Parker stops her pacing to look to Eryn, “How long?”  Thinking for a moment, Eryn replies, “Thirty…  Thirty-five depending on if they use a rolodex system.”  She hears Eliot scoff from the other room, “They printed us twenty minutes ago.  So, unless we get out of here in the next ten minutes, we all go to jail.”  “Yeah,” Nate says absentmindedly, “Alright.  I…  Uh…”  “Eliot and I can take these cops,” Eryn offers hopefully.  Parker glares at Eryn, “Don’t you dare.  You kill anyone, you screw up my getaway.”  

Hardison snaps, “Hold up!  We’re still handcuffed here…”  Eryn winces as she pops her thumb out of joint and pulls the handcuff off before resetting her thumb.  Parker’s eyes widen and looks to Eryn in surprise.  Eryn winks and whispers, “My Plan B on handcuffs.”  Parker grins, “You are…  We are outta here.”  Hardison continues to complain, “I can’t even go to the bathroom.  Man, I gotta go!”  

Nate hollers to the vent, “Parker!  Get me a phone.  What we’re going to do is, we’re going to get out of here together.”  “This was a one-time deal,” Eliot reminds him.  Nate sighs loud enough that Eryn can hear him before he calmly continues, “Look, guys.  Here’s your problem.  You all know what you can do.   _ I _ know what you  _ all _ can do.  So, that gives me the edge.  Gives me the plan.”  Parker and Eryn exchange a shrugged look.  “We’re not the most trustworthy bunch, Nate,” Eryn explains.  “We don’t trust each other.”  She can hear Nate smile in his voice, “Do you trust me?”  Eliot replies first, “Of course.  You’re an honest man.”  “Alright,” Eryn says, “So, what’s the plan.”  “The plan is,” Nate answers, “Parker gets me a phone.”  Parker sighs as she stops pacing, “This is gonna suck.”  Ramming her finger down her throat, Parker bends over and begins retching.  Eryn scrambles to the far end of the bed, “Oh, ew!”

 

A few minutes later, Parker is lying handcuffed in her hospital bed.  The doctor examines her and takes her temperature.  Discarding the disposable thermostat cover, the doctor looks to the policeman in the room.  “Nausea could mean a concussion.”  He’ll look to Parker, “If you feel any more effects or blurred vision, tell the policemen right away.”  Parker smiles sweetly as she nods. The doctor and the nurse leave the room.  After the checking the handcuffs on Eryn and Parker, the police officer leave the room as well.

Once they are alone, Parker and Eryn grin at each other.  Simultaneously, they hold up the phones they pickpocketed.  Eryn also holds up keys she deftly removed from one of the officers previously.  After tossing Parker her phone, she begins to remove her handcuff.  Once free, she passes Parker the keys.  Parker then gets out of her handcuffs and stands on her bed to pass the phones through the vent to Nate.  “Pssst…  Nate!”  Parker whispers harshly.  Nate’s hand appears through the vent to take both phones and disappears back into his room.

Eryn and Parker sit on their beds, waiting patiently for Nate’s plan to work.

 

A few moments later, Hardison is leading the team out to an awaiting police cruiser.  He’s guiding Eliot into the backseat when he hits Eliot’s head on top of the door frame.  Eliot turns to growl at Hardison, who says defensively, “Walk it off…  Walk…  Get inside…  Get inside.”  Eliot gets into the car sitting beside Eryn in the middle and Nate on the other side while Parker sits in the front seat.  Hardison turns to the cops and smiles broadly, “Men!  It fills my heart with tears of joy.  What you guys do.  It does…”  He then gets in the driver’s side and begins to pull away.  In the rear view mirror, Eryn notices a nurse approaching one of the police and they race back inside the hospital.

 

After entering into a sparse loft, Hardison heads towards his computer station.  “Five first class tickets to anywhere but here coming up,” he says as he sits down and begins to type.  Parker glances around the room, “Who’s place is this?”  Still working on his computer, Hardison responds, “It’s mine.”  Pacing, Eliot growls softly, “I’m gonna beat Dubenich so bad that even the people who look like him are gonna bleed.”  Eryn leans against the sofa couch with her arms crossed, watching Eliot.  “You’re gonna have to get in line,” she replies.  Eliot stops and looks to her, “We could always tag team.”  Grinning broadly, Eryn purrs, “Oooooh, that’d be fun.”  

Interrupting their banter, Parker replies, “You won’t get within 100 yards.  He knows your face.  He knows all our faces.”  Eliot snaps back, “He tried to kill us!”  Parker frowns, “More importantly, he didn’t pay us.”  Eryn looks shocked at Parker as Eliot shakes his fists in frustration, “How is that more important!?!”  Shrugging, Parker replies, “I take that personally.”  “There’s something wrong with you,” Eliot murmurs.  “There’s a lot of things wrong with her,” Eryn says.

As Hardison types on his computer, he pulls up images onto the big flatscreen monitors.  “Heads up.  Look,” he begins, “Dubenich’s story is ninety percent true.  He is the head of Bering Aerospace…  Big rival to Pierson…  But, check out what my little web crawlers coughed up.”  The Pierson Aviation representative appears on one of the monitors in a news conference, “We’ve lost research that we’ve been working on for over five years.  Our servers have been sabotaged.  Now, we’re going to pursue these perpetrators to the full extent of the law and with all the resources we have at our disposal.”  Nate watches and contemplates aloud, “Could be a cover story.”  Shaking his head, Hardison responds, “Here’s a log of last night’s rip.  Internal timestamps on the project…”  He focuses on one of the monitors.  “2003…  2004…  They’re way-way down in the code.  There’s no reason to fake those, man.”

Eliot stops his pacing and looks to Nate, “So, we didn’t steal the plans back?”  Eryn frowns, “No, we were just stealing them.”  Hardison looks to Nate perplexed, “Why would Dubenich lie to us?”  Turning to face the group, Nate shrugs nonchalantly, “‘Cause you’re thieves.  If he hired you for a straight up crime, you’d know he was a bad guy…  Like you…  You’d be suspicious.  This way, you just saw another citizen in over his head and that’s why you didn’t see the double-cross coming.”  Parker looks to Nate, “Why didn’t you see it coming?”  Casually, Nate responds as he shrugs again, “Because, I’m not a thief.”  Eliot rounds on him, “You know what!  Maybe that was the problem!  If you-”  “Hey!  Hey!  Hey!”  Hardison interjects and begins to hand out pieces of paper, “I bought tickets to London, Rome, Paris, and San Paulo.  All matching the IDs that you gave me.”

Nate moves over and begins to look at Hardison’s monitors, “So…  You’re running.”  “Well,” Eryn answers, “We’re kind of wanted right now…  More than usual.  We gotta wait the heat out.”  “You got a better idea?”  Eliot asks snarkily.  “No-no.  You’re running,” Nate waves them off while staring at Dubenich on the monitors, “Now, that was a high-risk play.  You got your balls tied to the stock price like a cinderblock.  Shareholders’ meeting coming up…  We can’t let this guy have any time to cool down.”  Eliot looks to Nate disbelievingly, “You want to run a game on this guy?  You!?!”  “Yeah,” Nate replies, “I mean…  How do you think I got most of my stolen merchandise back?  I mean…  This guy…  He’s greedy…  He thinks he’s smart…  The best kind of mark.”  Parker adds in, following along, “He does think he got rid of us.”  Hardison slowly begins to smile, “Element of surprise.”  

Eliot glances to Eryn before looking to Nate, “What’s in it for me?”  Nate turns to look at the group then to Eliot, “Payback…  And if it goes right…  A lot of money.”  Parker looks to Nate warily, “What’s in it for me?”  Smiling, Nate cajoles, “A lot of money…  And if it goes right…  Payback.”  He looks to Hardison, “Hardison?”  Shrugging, Hardison grins, “I was just gonna send a thousand porno magazines to his office…  But, Hells yeah, man!  Let’s kick him up!”  Eryn looks to Nate warily, “What’s in it for you?”  Nate’s face falls slightly, “He used my son…  Alright…  Let’s go get us a Sophie.”  As Nate leaves, the rest of the group look to each other confused before following him out.  “What the Hell is a Sophie?” Eliot asks.

 

Later that evening, the group stands in the back of a almost empty theater and watch in horror the actress on stage.  The young woman is of obvious eastern descent with shoulder-length black hair and brown eyes.  She is currently dressed in medieval clothing, doing a  _ terrible _ job of acting her lines.  “Come, you spirits that…  Tend on mortal thoughts…,” the woman says before flinging herself to the floor, “Unsex me here!  And fill me from the crown…”  She points to the crown on her head and makes a grand gesture down her body, “To the toe…  Top full of direst!”  Shifting, the woman moves to a praying position on her knees.  “Make thick my blood!”

The entire group is horrified by the performance, with the exception of Nate who is simply watching intently.  The woman continues, “Stop up the access and passage to remorse that noooo…  That nooo…”  She hesitates a moment, “Stop up the access and passage to remorse that no compunctious visitings of nature!”  Hardison leans over to Nate and whispers loudly, “She is  _ very _ awful.”  Parker winces throughout the performance, “Is she injured?  In the head???”  Eliot replies, “Seriously man, this is the worst actress I’ve seen.”  Eryn adds, “Please tell me Sophie is actually in the audience and not on the stage.”  Nate smiles broadly, “This is not her stage.”

 

After the show, the group waits in a back alley by Eryn’s van, Eliot is shaking his head, “No!  No!  I vote no!”  Nate replies, “Parker’s right.  Dubenich knows us and we need a fresh face.”  He turns as Sophie exits through a backstage door and he begins to applaud her as he approaches, “I thought you were great!”  Sophie smiles broadly, “My only fan.”  She glances to the group behind him and looks to him warily, “I’m a citizen now…  Honest.”  Nate smiles softly, “I’m not.”  Surprised, Sophie looks him over, “You’re playing my side?”  She glances at the team again behind him.  “I always thought you had it in you,” she replies.  Shrugging, Nate asks, “Um…  Are you in?”  With a broad smile, Sophie purrs, “I wouldn’t miss this.”  Flustered, Nate turns back to the team, “Alright.  Alright.  Let’s break the law…  Just one more time.”  Everyone climbs into the van and Eryn drives them back towards Hardison’s lair.

 

Back in Hardison’s loft / lair, Hardison displays pictures of Dubenich on his large, flat-screen television while the team watches.  “Victor Dubenich,” Hardison begins, “Executive vice-president in charge of the new technology development over at Bering Aerospace…”  Eliot enters into the room carrying a bowl of popcorn and sits down beside Eryn, offering her some.  Hardison ignores the interruption and continues, “Rich daddy…  Trust fund…  Yale MBA…  Blah-blah-blah…”  

“Victor,” Nate ponders aloud, “Now, when was the last time you met a ‘Victor’?”  “Vietnam,” Eliot replies, “Town called ‘Banho Zay.’”  Sophie adds, “Chinese border.”  Eliot quirks an eyebrow and looks at Sophie warily, “That’s an odd thing for you to know.”  “That’s an odd place for you to be,” Sophie retorts.  Eryn continued to eat popcorn and watch the show, offering some to Parker.  Hardison glares at the group briefly before continuing, “Now, Bering is in charge of a lot of big, fat government contracts.  Some Department of Research…  Very classified stuff.”  Parker raises her hand, “Can we use that?”  Shaking his head, Hardison answers, “No, I don’t think so.  Dubenich is in charge of their commercial airline business.”

Nate smiles tenderly at Hardison, “I know when you sent Dubenich his designs, you weren’t supposed to make copies.”  Scoffing, Hardison puts a hand to his chest in mock shock, “No, I promised!  That would be very wrong.”  Eryn sighs as she realizes that the only one who follow rules, is Nate…  And he had a set all to his own.  “Show me your copies,” Nate coaxes.  Hardison smiles as he brings up the copies on the big screen.  Looking at it, Eliot shrugs, “It’s an airplane.”  “It’s a short alt-domestic airliner.  Yeah, usually one hour flights.  It’s the fastest growing segment of the industry…  Very fuel efficient,” Nate informs the team, “High tech.  Very nice carbon nose…  It’s got the titanium wrap…  3 to 1.”  Everyone looks to Nate in surprise.  He smiles sheepishly as he replies, “You know…  You pick up things here and there.”  “You pick up a lot of stuff,” Hardison accuses.  “Ha!”  Parker spurts out spontaneously.  

Hardison clicks the remote to the computer attached to showing the images on the television, “Check this out…  Now, Dubenich and Pierson, they were head-to-head for five years trying to grab the lead in an industry that’s worth like…  Eleven billion dollars.”  “So, Pierson got there first.  Dubenich took a shortcut,” Parker deduces.  Nate nods, “So, he’s got a rival…  He’s got a rival that pisses him off so much he hired us to steal his designs…”  Nate stands and begins to pace, “This is good.”  Sophie watches Nate warily, “What are you thinking, Nate?”  Nate smiles broadly, “I’m thinking Nigerians…  Yeah…  Nigerians will do nicely…”  He then turns and leaves the room leaving the others to look to Sophie confused.  She sighs softly, “Well, he hasn’t changed a bit.”

 

A few days later, Hardison and Eryn are sitting at Hardison’s computer station.  Nate stands over them watching them work.  Eryn plugs her laptops into Hardison’s mainframe and is listening in on the earpiece.  “Mr. Dubenich,” Sophie said with a rich accent over the receiver, “Anna Gunschtot, African Commercial Transport and Trade Initiative.”  “Here comes the mountain of suck,” Hardison murmurs which got a slight chuckle from Eryn.  “You government?”  They hear Dubenich ask.  “No-no,” Sophie replies.  “Private business consortium…  We are looking to encourage infrastructure development and economic renewal.”  Dubenich sighs, “I have no idea what that means in English…  What does it mean?”  Eryn could feel Sophie’s smile in her voice, “We create jobs and trade in Africa.  Keep the graft and the stealing manageable.”

Eryn and Hardison exchange a look of surprise before Hardison looks to Nate, “She’s not awful.”  Proudly, Nate smiles, “ _ This _ is her stage.  Sophie Devereaux is the finest actress you’ve ever seen…  When she’s breaking the law.”  All three return their focus on the job as they hear Dubenich’s voice, “Keep graft and stealing manageable in Africa…  Good luck, but I don’t think I can help…  I don’t think any human being on Earth can help you with that.  Sorry.”  “Come on,” they hear Sophie say, “Let’s go and talk somewhere…  A little less formal, eh?”  High heels clicked on marble floor as Eryn hears Dubenich’s voice, distant at first but catching up, “Uh…  No-no-no…  Look, I…  Miss…  Ah…”

Nate pats Hardison on the shoulder, “Okay…  And…  Now.”  Hardison hits a few keys and smiles, “Secretary’s monitor is down…  No more fluffy kittens.”  After a few seconds, the cell phone by Eryn rings.  Smiling, Eryn picks up the phone and in a perky voice, “IT Department.  How may we help you?”  Dubenich’s secretary frantically speaks to her over the phone, “Yeah, this is Victor Dugenich’s office.  My computer just completely crashed.”  Pouting playfully, Eryn responds, “Ohh…  I’m sorry to hear that.  Did you try turning it on and off again?”  Hardison raises a fist at Eryn and she bumps it with her own as she continues her conversation.  “Yes,” the secretary says exasperatedly, “Nothing seems to be working.”  Eryn makes loud typing noises on her keyboard that could be heard over the phone, which sends a message to Eliot, “We’ve got someone on your floor already.”  Relieved, the secretary said, “Oh, thank you,” and hangs up.  A few moments later, Eliot’s voice is heard over the earphone, “Someone call IT?”

 

Outside, over the comms, they hear Sophie talking to Dubenich.  “I represent a group of investors who are looking to start an airline for short tour flights in Africa.”  Dubenich interrupts, “Of Johannesburg?”  Nate shakes his head as he speaks into the comm, “Okay, he’s testing you.  You want Bloemfontein.”  Back over the comms, Sophie responds to Dubenich, “Revitalise the regional airports.  In South Africa, Bloemfontein for example.  But really, it’s Nigeria we’re focused on.”  Nate nods proudly, “Perfect.”  Dubenich replies to Sophie “Most of their airport runways are a mess.”  Sophie consoles, “I believe new airplanes will make people more comfortable while we renew old runways.”  Dubenich seems to understand, but replies warily, “Uh-huh…  I don’t recall saying anything about new airplanes.”  Without missing a beat, Sophie reassures, “Victor, both you and your chief engineer are scheduled to speak at your shareholder’s meeting.”  Warily, Dubenich replies, “I think you know more about my business than I do.”  A smile can be heard in Sophie’s voice as she purrs, “I’ve done my homework…  I find you fascinating.”

 

Meanwhile, over the comms in Dubenich’s office, Eliot’s voice turns flirtatious as he says, “Let me show you how to…  Uh…  Reconnect with the network.”  Frowning, Eryn glances to Hardison then to Nate, “Shouldn’t Hardison be playing the computer guy?”  Nate shakes his head, “No, I want him to actually  _ be _ the computer guy.”  Eryn glances again to Hardison who simply shrugs.  

Eryn returns her attention to her monitors, not liking the feeling she’s experiencing as she listens in on Eliot.  “Alright,” Eliot says, “Voila!”  The secretary purrs softly and Eryn’s grip on her mouse tightens, “You are strong for a computer guy.”  “Why…  Thank you,” Eliot replies, “I like to work out and try to stay big ‘cause I love dressing up like a Klingon and going to all the conventions you know?  BACLA!  Oh, sorry.”  “It’s okay,” the secretary giggles, “BACLA!”  “Oh, don’t you tease me,” Eliot jokes.  Eryn slowly relaxes her grip on her mouse and stands.  As she paces, Nate asks softly, “Problem?”  Eryn shakes her head with a perplexed look, “I…  I don’t think so.”  However, she continues to pace.  

Hardison interrupts over the comms, “Oh, hold up, man!  That is not…  That is not cool!  We gonna have a strong talk when you get back!”  Ignoring Hardison, Eliot continues to flirt, “You’ve got unbelievably blue eyes.”  Eryn turns so she cannot be seen and scrunches up her face as she mouths, “You’ve got unbelievably blue eyes.”  The secretary replies sheepishly, “Thank you.”  “They’re stunning,” Eliot continues, “Just breathtakingly blue.”  “Yes-yes, the woman has blue eyes.  We get it,” Eryn says sharply as she glances to her monitors.  “Wrap it up, lover boy.  Parker’s done.”  Hardison quirks an eyebrow as he looks to Eryn.  Eryn glares at him, “What!?!”  Hardison turns back to his computers, simply shaking his head.

 

Back at the wharf, Dubenich is continuing to speak to Sophie.  “Uh, sorry, is it Gunshot?”  He asks.  “No,” Sophie replies.  “I’m sorry,” Dubenich quickly interrupts.  “Gunschtot,” Sophie says clearly.  “I’m sorry…  Really sorry,” wheedles Dubenich.  The smile can be heard through the comms, “Anna,” Sophie offers.  “Anna,” Dubenich sighs, “Thank you.  How’s this?   _ If _ we announce a new product, then you can order as many as your little heart desires.”  Stopping his pacing, Nate smiles, “Okay, you know what to do…  Hit him.”  Eryn turned to look at Nate in surprise.  “Seriously!?!”  She exclaims.  “Not physically!”  Nate responds.  Apparently, Sophie knew what he meant as she didn’t miss a beat, “We’d also like to build the planes.  More jobs.  Build them in Africa…  Fly them in Africa…  Sell the rest around the world.”  “Well,” Dubenich interrupts, “That’s very ambitious.  You have the manufacturing facilities to do all that?”  Sophie gives an unlady-like snort, “Ah!  We can easily raise the money to build the facilities…   _ If _ we know for certain we’re going to get the contracts.”  Smiling proudly, Nate praises, “Atta, girl.”

Dubenich obviously disagrees as it is heard over the comms, “Anna, I’m really sorry, but I can’t help you.”  Sighing softly, Hardison looks to Nate, “It was a nice try, man.”  Unperplexed, Nate pauses and stands staring at the monitors, “Wait for it…”  Disappointed, Sophie replies, “I understand…”  Interceding, Dubenich continues, “And I really do have…”  “I’ll take it to Pierson,” Sophie announces.  Dubenich startles a response, “Pierson!?!  Uh…  Sure…  Go ahead…  Pierson’s a great company.  I don’t think they can help you…  But…”  Interrupting, Sophie responds, “Oh, they have a reputation for long-term investment.  You don’t.  They’re innovators…  Yeah, it’s probably a better fit.”  Scoffing, Dubenich says, “I know…  I’m aware that you’re manipulating me, Anna.”  “Well, I should hope so,” Sophie replies, “Hundreds of millions of dollars in new contracts.  A lot of good press.  All at your door.”  Conceding, Dubenich sighs, “Okay…  I give up. I’ll take the meeting.”  Sophie’s high heels can be heard as she starts to walk away, “I’ll have my office call you.”  “What?”  Dubenich stutters, “Yeah.”  “Day after tomorrow?”  She asks as she continues to walk away.  Calling after her, Dubenich yells, “Uh…  Yeah, sure…  Look forward to doing business with you.”

Nate slaps Hardison on the shoulder and they shake hands.  Eryn smiles broadly, “Wow…  Okay, she’s not bad.”

 

Later that evening, Hardison is at his computer station while Eliot and Eryn are playing pool.  Eryn is lining up a shot, “Left pocket.”  Eliot leans in and whispers close to her ear, “So…  You’re in lust, huh?”  The shot Eryn has goes wild and Eryn straightens, trying hard to suppress the blush creeping onto her face.  Nate enters from another room and starts to head towards the pool table before Hardison stops him.  “Yo, Nate.  I got all his financials off his hard drive and all his passwords.”  Absentmindedly, Nate nods, “Yeah…”   As he continues to the pool table.  

Clearing her throat, Eryn turns to look out the window and chalk her cue while Eliot chuckles.  “Your shot,” Eliot tells Nate has he tries to hand him a beer.  Eryn glances to Eliot with a glare as she realizes she’s been played.  Eliot simply winks her direction.  “No thanks,” Nate says as he picks up the pool cue.  “Five corner.”  

“You look better than when we started,” Eliot acknowledges to Nate.  “Yeah,” Nate responds with a touch of bitterness.  Eryn turns to watch with a quirked eyebrow, “And that bothers you, huh?”  Nate sighs as he relaxes the grip on his pool cue, his shot missing its mark. “I…  Uh…  Well, this isn’t supposed to feel…”  “Good?”  Eliot answers.  “It’s not that hard to figure out,” he continues, “Dubenich screwed you.  He cheated by stealing from that other company and your good guy brain sees him as the bad guy.  Your conscious is clear.”  Frustrated, Nate replies, “You want to take your shot?”  “Listen,” Eliot replies, “I’m sorry about your kid.”  Angrily, Nate glares to Eliot, “You don’t know anything about  that.”  “Actually,” Eryn inputs sympathetically, “Everybody knows.  A guy like you goes off the street.  A lot of people notice.  And it was a bad story too.  How did they justify that?  The insurance company just not paying for his treatment?”  Nate grabs the beer he rejected and takes a swig before murmuring, “They claimed it was experimental.”  “You should have kept one of those Monets you found,” Eliot suggested, “You fence that-” Nate puts down his pool cue and turns on Eliot, “You two and I are not friends.”  Eryn raises her eyebrows then puts her cue down, the game obviously over.  As she turns to walk away, Eliot joins her retorting, “Right…  Right…  Because you have so many.”  He indicates with his head where Sophie has emerged from a room, “Incoming.”

Walking with Eryn to the other side of the room, Eliot beats Eryn to the ear pieces and turns to face her.  Holding out her hand for the earpiece, Eliot grins wolfishly and gently tucks a wayward strand of her cherry black hair behind her ear.  “So…  Just lust?”  He grins.  Eryn forces her face to go cold sober as she responds casually, “You’re a handsome, well built male specimen…  I’m a healthy, heterosexual woman who is not dead yet…  So, yes…  Just lust.”  Grinning, he gently places her earpiece in her ear then leans in and whispers, his warm breath caressing her cheek, “I can work with that.”  He then turns and walks away, placing his own earpiece in his ear.  Eryn stands there for a moment, flustered.  Hardison glides his computer chair across the room.  “Ooooo…  Ooooooooo…  Mmmm,” he teases.  Both Eryn and Nate respond, “Shut up, Hardison.”

 

Eryn, Nate and Hardison are sitting at a cafe table across from a business building.  Eryn is drinking what appears to be coffee out of a thermal cup as they watch as Dubenich pulls up in front of the building, gets out of his car, and heads inside.  Nate nods, “Sophie, he is on site.”  Eryn can’t help but notice the slight panic in Sophie’s voice over the comm, “What!?!  No!  I’m not ready.”   Nate frowns as he sighs, “If you don’t meet him, right now, in the lobby, he’s going to go to the building directory to look for the office number.  Guys, we are  _ not _ in the building directory.”  With a slight echo from his location, Eliot’s voice comes over the comms, “And, why aren’t we in the directory?”  Hardison scoffs, “I don’t know.  Maybe because they’re fake offices!?!”  The comms go silent for a few moments and Eryn watches Nate to come up with Plan B.  Panicked, Sophie comes back on the comms, “There’s no elevator.”  Placing her coffee down, Eryn stands up, “Alright, I’ll distract him.”  Nate nods in approval and talks to the comms, “Parker, you got ten seconds to get Sophie to the lobby.”  Parker’s voice is immediately heard, “Sophie!”  “What’s going on?”  Sophie asks.  “Put this on,” Parker replies.  “What’s this for?”  Sophie asks warily.  The smile in Parker’s voice is evident, “Speed.”

Taking a retractable baton from within her boot, Eryn flicks her wrist to extend it out and looks around briefly before picking a car and smashing one of the windows.  A car alarm goes off.  Casually strolling to the next car, she breaks a window of that car too, setting off the alarm.  After choosing two more cars to set off alarms, she casually retracts the baton as she places it back into her boot.  Eryn strolls over to the two men sitting at the table and sits down with a soft smile, picking up her coffee and taking a drink as if nothing has happened.  She winces slightly as Sophie screaming can be heard over the ear comms.  Hardison looks to her, “Feel better?”  Smiling broadly, Eryn nods, continually to casually drink her coffee, “Oh, yeah.”

Breathless, Sophie can be heard over the comms, “Oh, ah…  Our offices are on the tenth floor.”  Dubenich replies, “Oh…  You’re…  Uh…  You have a…  A glow.”  “Just…  Excited!”  Sophie replies.  They hear the ‘ding’ of an elevator before Sophie continues, “One thing…  The gentleman bringing you this…  Opportunity…  To work with their government…  They’ll expect some…  Um…  Compensation.”  She quickly adds, “Not a bribe, of course.”  “A finder’s fee,” Dubenich offers understandingly.  Relieved, Sophie answers, “Exactly.”  Perplexed, Dubenich adds, “I thought your job was to eliminate graft and stealing.”  Sophie clarifies, “No, my job is to keep it manageable.”  Electric tools can be heard briefly before a ‘ding’ of the elevator comes back over the comm.

After a few moments of silence, a heavily accented voice is heard over the comms, “Good afternoon, Mr. Dubenich.  We are honored by your presence.”  “No-no,” Dubenich preens, “The honor is entirely all mine.  Getting in on the ground floor of something like this is a wonderful opportunity.”  Parker skips towards their cafe table before sitting down with the group.  Nate smiles and nods approvingly, “Nice job on the zip line.”  Picking up a cup from the cluster at the table, Parker snickers, “Totally thought she was going to break a leg…  Not bad for a first time.”  Dubenich’s voice is heard back over the comms, “So, what do you think?”  Nate sips his drink and nods to the group, “She’s closing it up.”  The accented voice replies, “Yes, absolutely.  We can definitely repurpose those factories.”  The excitement in Dubenich’s voice is hard to miss, “Great!”  The accented voice continues, “I believe we will be able to do a lot of business together, sir.”  Interrupting slightly, Sophie responds, “About the…  Other matter.”  The accented voice answers, “Of course.”  After a few moments, Sophie asks, “Is it agreeable?”  Dubenich chuckles as he responds, “Oh, I think we can work something out.”  The smile is heard in Sophie’s voice, “Excellent.”

 

After a few moments, the team watches as Dubenich gets into his car and drives away.  They then move to join Sophie on the sidewalk.  “We get him?”  Nate asks.  Sophie scoffs softly, “We  _ own _ him.”  Nodding, Nate turns to the rest of the team.  “Okay, gang.  Let’s go.  We got a busy day tomorrow.”  Chewing on her lip gently, Sophie looks to Nate, “This is going to work, right?”  Nate smiles, “I guarantee it.”

 

Arriving back in Hardison’s loft, Eryn goes to get her gear and is intercepted by Eliot.  “So, you wanna go play some pool?  Get a drink?”  Cooly, Eryn replies as she picks up her bag, “We already played pool, and the only drinks here are the orange soda Hardison has apparently stock in.”  Eliot smiles gently, “I meant somewhere else…  Just us…  Together.”  Eryn quirks an eyebrow, “I…  I’m sorry, Eliot.  I do find you attractive…  It’s just…  I don’t date those I work with…  It confuses things.”  Grinning impishly, Eliot purrs softly, “Just gives me more reason to want this job to be over with.”  Eryn turns, trying to mask her blush, “Good night, Eliot.”  She quickly heads towards the door and to her temporary apartment.

 

The next morning, the team works with precision as they each place packages into bags and then, in unison, head towards the door.  Nate holds the door for Sophie, Eryn, and Parker before heading through the door himself.  Once outside Bering Aerospace’s office building, the team splits up to prepare and finish the job.  Sophie meets with the a small group of dark-skinned men that Eryn could only assess as the Nigerians and leads them to Dubenich.  Using a sniper scope from her van, Eryn keeps an eye on Sophie as the rest of the team prepare for the next part.  Sophie’s voice is heard over the comms purring softly, “Well, aren’t you the cat that ate the canary?”  Dubenich teases playfully, “Does it show?”  Playfully, Sophie responds, “Horrible poker face.”  Chucking, Dubenich adds, “Guilty…  Why don’t we get this done?”  Sophie can’t hold her surprise as she replies, “Now?”  “Yeah,” Dubenich responds.  “You have the whole payment,” Sophie asks warily.  “Absolutely,” Dubenich reassures, “I think we should make the deal.  I want to make the announcement, get even bigger headlines.  I’ll take them into a conference room away from all of this.  Go-go-go!  Let’s do it!”  “Arrogant putz,” Eryn murmurs, satisfied Dubenich is hooked.  She heads to the back of the van to change into her outfit for the next part of the stage, trying hard to ignore Eliot watching her.  Excited, Sophie responds, “I’ll be right back.”  A few moments later, Sophie is heard speaking softly to the Nigerians.

 

After a bit, Dubenich has lead Sophie and the Nigerians into the building.  Over the comms, Dubenich’s voice is heard, “Gentlemen.  Now, everybody, come in…  Relax…  Make yourselves comfortable.  The voice that Eryn has associated with the Nigerian leader responds, “Thank you.”  “Sure,” Dubenich adds.  The Nigerian continues, “I assume we all understand the terms of this agreement?”  Eryn grins as she hears Sophie’s heels on the marbled floor as she walks away in time to listen to the shouts of “FBI!” in the background.

Chuckling, Eryn remembers Sophie’s initial meeting with the Nigerians as she introduced herself as working for Bering Aerospace directly under Victor Dubenich.  Also, the dummy office the setup for Bering Aerospace where Dubenich and the Nigerians first met.  Then how Sophie switched out the envelope from the Nigerians to Dubenich.  Sirens and flashing lights draws Eryn back to the present as she slides back into the driver’s seat of her van and looks through her scope.  “Show time,” she tells the team.

 

Small pieces of paper float down as FBI agents move in and out of the building…  The team walk out wearing FBI coats and carrying boxes.

 

Later that night, Eryn watches from across the street of an unfinished office building through binoculars.  She sees Nate approaching Mr. Pierson who is waiting by a window.   Pierson’s voice comes over the comm, “I came alone.”  Nate nods, “Yes.  I know.  Thank you, Mr. Pierson…  Now, I understand your research was completely wiped out.  I have complete copies right on these hard drives along with absolute proof that they were on Bering Aerospace computers.  That should be good for a couple of lawsuits, right?”  Pierson concedes, “I drop the investigation of all parties involved with the original theft.”  Agreeing, Nate continues, “That seems fair.  You get your property back.”  “Agreed,” Pierson says, “No charges.  Nothing on you or your people.”  Eryn watches and Nate hands Mr. Pierson the hard drives and walks away.  Calling after him, Pierson asks, “Don’t you want money?”  Smiling, Nate continues on, “This particular project has…  A different revenue stream.”

 

Early the next morning, the team waits as Nate talks on the phone to Victor Dubenich.  Eryn can’t help but smile at the scam working.  She then glances to Eliot, who gives her a wink before returning his attention to Nate as well.  Blushing slightly, Eryn smiles subtly as a warm feeling spreads over her.

Nate walks back towards the group, still on the phone to Dubenich. “No, it doesn’t account for all of it,” he says, “Sophie kept a little to buy a truly impressive number of shoes.”  Parker mutters softly, “What is it with women and shoes?”  Sophie looks astounded at her, “There’s something wrong with you.”  “That’s what I said,” affirms Eliot.  Nate continues talking on the phone, “See, if a company’s stock price falls ten…  Fifteen percent in one day…  And you see it coming…  You sell short…  You make a lot of money…  If it’s going to fall thirty percent, you can make  _ shattering _ amounts of money…  We didn’t need the FBI to show up and take you to jail…  We just needed them to show up and take boxes out of your office…  All…  Day…  Long…  In front of TV cameras…  Scaring your investors…  You going to jail is just a bonus.”  Nate smiles broadly, “I wouldn’t say anything about us to the Feds…  Next time, we won’t be so nice.”  

He then hangs up as he turns his attention back to the team.  Hardison begins to hand out envelopes to everyone.  As they are opened, a check for millions of dollars is seen inside.  Eryn’s eyes widen in surprise.  Nate smiles as he opens his envelope, “Job well…  WHOA!”  Proudly smiling, Hardison informs, “There was an overlap in the London stock market…  Valuation carried over to NASDAQ and…  I’m just very good at what I do.”  Excited, Parker looks to the team, “This is the score… THE score!”  Shrugging, Hardison beams, “Age of the geek, baby.”  Eliot smiles broadly, “Somebody kiss this man so I don’t have to.”  Eryn pulls out her check and stares at it.  “So…  This is it…  We’re out…  This is retirement money…  This is go legit…  Buy an island somewhere…  And live in peace kinda money.”  Nate tucks his check back into his envelope and pockets it, “Uh, yeah…  Pleasure working with you.”  Eliot sobers, “Yeah…  One show only…  No encores.”  Shrugging, Parker adds, “I already forgot your names.”  Eryn glances to Eliot sadly then turns and walks away as the team separates.

Eryn is walking down a path in the park, frowning softly as she tries to get the chill out of her bones.  She’s free.  She can do what she wants…  But what to do?  Hearing footsteps, she turns and sees Eliot racing to catch up to her.  He stops beside her and smiles sheepishly, “So, I’m handsome, huh?”  Smiling sheepishly, she nods, “You know you are.”  Slowly, he reaches up and tucks a wayward strand of her hair behind her ear.  “I’m gonna hate to say this…”  Eryn’s face drops as a chill touches her to the bone, “Oh?”  Nodding, he sighs, “We worked well with Nate…  All of us…  What if…”  Eryn smiles softly as she finishes, “What if it wasn’t just one show.”  Nodding, she reaches up and gently touches the side of his face.  Eliot turns his head and kisses her palm which sends tingling sensations down her arm and her body.  “Let’s go find Nate,” she offers.  Dropping her hand, she and Eliot head towards the direction they saw Nate head.

After a few moments, they find Hardison and Parker already talking to him as Nate is trying to walk away.  Catching up, Eliot interjects, “You want to know what we think?”  “Not really,” Nate says.  “How long until you fall apart again?”  Eliot asks.  “Oh,” Nate answers sarcastically, “I’m touched.”  “Well,” Eryn adds, “A guy like you can’t be out of the game.  That’s why you were a wreck.  You need the chase.”  Nate waves them off, “Yeah, I’ll manage.”  His phone then rings and he answers it, “Yeah?”  Sophie is sitting nearby on a bench and hangs up her phone.  Sauntering towards them, she purrs to Nate, “You pick the jobs…”  Nate shakes his head, “My job is helping people.  I help find bad guys.”  Eryn interjects, “Then go find some bad guys…  Bad guys have money…”  “Black King…  White Knight…”  Sophie purrs again.  Nate stares at Sophie for a moment before he sighs softly.

 

Several days later, the team is dressed in business attire as they stand in the residential home a couple.  Nate and Sophie sit in chairs near the obviously heartbroken couple.  The woman starts sobbing, “I’m sorry.”  Sophie consoles softly, “No-no-no…  Please…  Take your time.”  Hiccuping slightly, the woman stares at a picture of a young girl, “She…  She was 17.”  Nodding, Sophie gently touches the woman’s leg, “I know.”  The mother continues, “They killed her.  They said it was an accident, but that company killed her.  I want them hurt!”  The man gently hugs his wife close to him and looks sadly to the team, “We…  We can’t pay you.”  Sophie smiles reassuringly, “We work on an…  Alternative revenue stream.”  Confused, the man continues, “I don’t understand.  The judge said that we couldn’t appeal.  What are you gonna do?”  Nate smiles calmly, “People like that…  Corporations like that…  They have all the money…  They have all the power…  And they use to to make people like you go away.  Right now, you’re suffering…  Under an enormous weight…  We provide…  Leverage.”


End file.
